The live video view is displayed on the owner’s smartphone, and the user must keep a finger on the screen until the car is finished parking. If the finger is lifted, the car will stop automatically. “So the driver remains in control of the operation to conform to current regulations,” said Guillaume Devauchelle, Valeo’s vice president for innovation and scientific development. The camera is also used to recognize blue lines demarcating handicapped zones and other restricted parking spots.

That sense of control may seem like a mere technicality when standing 100 feet away from the car. But not being behind the wheel does have one distinct advantage: There is no trepidation about being trapped inside a robotic car that might crash.

Then there is the matter of simply finding an available spot.

Several companies, like Parkopedia and ParkMe, have been working for the last couple of years to collect that information in real time. There are smartphone apps to help drivers find a spot, and last year Volvo began offering a feature that enables drivers to find the closest available space and pay for it.

Parkopedia has parking information including real-time availability and prices for 6,000 cities in 52 countries, said the company’s chief executive, Eugene Tsyrklevich. He said that drivers could even set preferences, like selecting the nearest available spot or least expensive space.

Gathering the information has presented some challenges. Garage owners were initially reluctant to share their pricing information online, but more operators are realizing that if they are not included in apps or on dashboards, they may lose business.

“Right now we have close to 15 percent of all parking lots across the nation with refreshed information,” said Mark Pendergrast, director of product management at the traffic firm Inrix. “Two years ago that number was zero."

Inrix uses information from Parkopedia and ParkMe and says that in metropolitan areas the percentage of garages covered is closer to 30 to 40 percent. But there is still the issue of including available street parking. Several municipalities, like San Francisco and Washington, have worked on trying to solve the problem using sensors and networked payment systems to deliver real-time information on availability.